A Wind at My Back Christmas (ТВ) 2001 смотреть онлайн

"A Wind at My Back Christmas" Discussion
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Wed Jul 27, 2011 2:43 am
After it was decided Season 5 would be "Wind at My Back"'s last, the CBC commissioned one last movie from Sullivan Entertainment to wrap up the series, to be aired in December of 2001 (the final episode aired in April 2001). This reunion movie, which would be a Christmas movie, was filmed in September 2001. Unfortunately, neither Shirley Douglas (May) nor Kathryn Greenwood (Grace) were available for the movie, so it was written to revolve around Hub. The writer hired by Sullivan Entertainment was Rebecca Schechter, who had not previously written for "Wind at My Back", but had won a writing award for a "North of 60" episode about a residential school run by Catholic nuns. With limited time, "A Wind at My Back Christmas" had to be put together quickly even though many of the interior sets for New Bedford had already been dismantled.
"A Wind at My Back Christmas" takes place in December 1938, two years after we saw them last. Hub is in Toronto studying to become a priest and befriends a music student with a past. Grace and May are off-camera in Europe retrieving the remains of Van, who had died in Spain. Fat wants to join the RCMP while Honey continues her coursework. Toppy tries to direct a Christmas play with a terrible script, but Max is too busy with work and family to help rewrite it.
Feel free to answer either the Overall Questions or the Specific Questions about "A Wind at My Back Christmas", or both!
OVERALL QUESTIONS
A. Did the movie still feel like "Wind at My Back" to you? Did the tone shift, or did you not notice much difference? If you didn't know, would you have known a change in the writer?
B. Which characters' storylines did you like MOST in this movie? Which character's storylines did you dislike?
C. What were your favourite scenes, moments or quotes in the movie?
D. What were your least favourite scenes or moments in the movie?
E. Which characters did you want to see more of in this movie? Did it do a good job of allocating appropriate amounts of time to the various characters?
F. What did you think of the pacing of this movie? Were the major "milestones" in the story appropriately placed?
G. Did you like the movie more or less than the various Seasons? Or did you like it just as much but in a different way?
H. What did you think of the acting in this movie? Would you nominate any of the actors for an award?
I. Judging this movie as a regular, stand-alone movie, how would you rate it out of 5 stars? Why?
J. Judging this movie as part of the "Wind at My Back" franchise, how would you rate it out of 5 stars? Why?
K. Judging this movie as a series finale/final movie for WAMB, how would you rate it out of 5 stars? Why? Did it tie up the loose ends from the series?
L. Does this movie have the feel of a holiday movie? Does it get you into the holiday spirit?
M. If you could make changes to this movie, what would you change?
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SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
Note: There are 74 of them. Feel free to tackle maybe ten at a time.
Since I'm taking forever doing this discussion, I think I will watch the movie in parts and post a few questions a day, if that's alright with y'all. The problem with this approach is that I got 4 question from the first minutes, and at this rate, there will be a hundred questions in total.
1. Did you like the different opening sequence for the movie? Did you mind the variation of the music from the usual theme? Was it appropriate to include Maisey into the credits?
2. Did you find the "bad script by Jim Flett" subplot and Toppy being so high-strung about the play to be funny, boring, annoying or enjoyable? Did you like the subplot, or was it weak? Why?
3. Did you find Jim too cranky and out of character? Should they have made better use of the character? If so, how?
4. At the beginning of the movie, Maisey tells Toppy that she is having problems with boys at school. She says, "They think I am nice enough to be friends with, but that's ; Would you have wanted to see this happen to Maisey instead of just her talking about it? Could she have been talking about Fat, or was that unlikely?
5. Were you glad that Honey was still taking her university courses? Were you curious how she was able to balance home, family, work and study? Should they have shown this, or have made it more of a subplot?
6. Did you think it was out of character for Honey to even speak of taking the courses at the university instead of by correspondence? Would she really have been willing to be apart from her kids to do this?
7. Max overheard what Honey said about wishing she could actually attend university. Was he angry? Was it related to why he sounded so short and annoyed later when Toppy asked if he could rewrite the Christmas play? Did it bother you to see Max so abrupt in temper, or was it funny?
8. Was it believable that Fat would want to be a cop? Was it in-character that Fat "changes his mind every other week", as Maisey put it?
9. Fat says, "If I was Hub, you would all be writing letters to the head of the ; Was it strange that Fat would say that the family always supported Hub? Did you think that was true?
10. Maisey said that cops had to do dirty things, and Fat pointed out that Eddy Jackson was a criminal. Was it believable that Fat would go from thinking Eddy was a cool person, to thinking in a black and white way that Eddy was a criminal?
11. When Maisey sounded unsupportive, Fat says, "I don't know why I told you this" and Maisey replied, "I don't know why you told me ; Why did Fat tell Maisey? What do you think their "friendship" was like at this point - always bickering? Did you want to see more scenes between Maisey and Fat, or even a subplot?
12. Was Max too dismissive of Fat saying he wanted to join the RCMP? Was it strange that Fat didn't ask Honey, and Honey also said nothing about it?
13. Was it a good idea to have Toppy reading out a letter from Grace? Did you mind them superimposing images of Grace from previous seasons with "war" scenes from "Anne 3" and the reunion RtA movie?
14. What did you think of their decision to explain Grace's absence by saying she had gone to Europe to collect Van's remains? Would you change it? If so, how? Did you mind that they had killed Van off?
15. In the letter, Grace writes, "What a macabre journey this has turned out to be. I keep asking myself why I came. Even if it was my husband's last wish to collect his remains. It seems like a lifetime ago when Van left to fight the fascists in Spain and even longer since I married I will honour my husband despite my misgivings about ; Did Grace seem sad? Happy? Resigned? Was there anything about the contents of this letter that you did not like?
16. Was it annoying to string along the possibility that Grace and May might return in time for Christmas? Did you find it sad later, halfway through the movie, when Toppy read the telegram to say that they would not get back in time? Would it have been preferable to just say from the beginning they won't be back?
17. Did you like how they used Hub's letter to transition from New Bedford to Hub at university in Toronto? Why did they say Maisey didn't get a letter from Hub, yet begin the voiceover with "Dear Maisey, I'm sorry it has been so ;
18. The segment with Hub in university is 10 minutes long. Were you engaged in this part of the movie away from New Bedford, or was it too long? Did it still feel like "Wind at My Back"? Would you still have been engaged if even more time was spent with just Hub in Toronto?
19. Was it a good idea to still have Hub going towards priesthood to begin this movie? Or should it have been dropped outright?
20. Was it abrupt how Father Fitzroy went from wanting Hub to drop out of high school to become a priest in the last episode of Season 5, to waxing on about how important chemistry is in this movie? Would Hub have been happy to get a degree first, when he was so impatient to join the priesthood he wanted to skip high school to do so? Did you want them to delve into why he was even getting a degree?
21. Did you like Anna Schiller at the beginning? Were you intrigued by her story, with Professor Coburn and the RCMP Inspector? Or did you think she seemed like a bad influence on Hub?
22. Did you feel any romantic chemistry between Anna and Hub at this point? When Father Fitzroy asked if he was in love, Hub said he didn't know. Was he in love? Was Anna in love with Hub at this point?
23. Did you enjoy the scenes with Anna playing the cello, or were they boring and unnecessary?
24. Did they make Father Fitzroy seem buffoonish, by making him say "Why make such a big deal about Hitler?" Why did Father Fitzroy warn Hub about being a "campus celebrity" due to his speech at the rally? Would you have liked to see the anti-fascist rally, and was it believable that Hub would get involved with such events?
25. Did you guess what Anna's secret was? Did you realize when Anna said, "My father's name is not Ludwig Schiller. It's Abraham"? Was this an awkward final scene in Toronto right before cutting back to New Bedford?
26. Back in New Bedford, Honey finds the old script to "A Train to Nowhere". Did you like that little call-back to the series? What were your favourite call-backs in this movie? Would you have liked to see more?
27. Why would Max have been hiding his new writing from Honey? Was that out of character? When and where would Max have been writing "A Miner's Son"? Were you curious about this new play and what it was about?
28. Did you like the way Max ended up rewriting the script to the Christmas play? Did you find it funny to hear how bad Jim's script really was? Without Honey's plodding, would Max have done it?
29. Were Maisey's feelings towards Hub believable? Was she in love with Hub, as Anna said later? Or was it a crush? Did Hub have any romantic feelings towards Maisey?
30. Did you like the scene at the train station with first Hub greeting everyone and then Anna coming up from around the corner, and everyone's reactions?
31. Did you find Maisey's rudeness towards Anna funny? Or were you annoyed at her behavior?
32. What did you think of the tense dinner where Hub seemed to be attacked by both Honey and Fat? Did you sympathesize with Hub's comment later that he doesn't like being home?
33. Did the actor who play Fat overdo the coldness and hatred towards Hub, both at the train station and later that night? Did you find Fat's snideness towards Hub funny, like "I knew you didn't spend all of your time studying" and "I didn't know they let priests have girlfriends now"?
34. Did you find Honey unlikeable and uptight with the third degree she gave Hub at dinner? Did she disapprove of the anti-fascist rally because of Anna or the politics itself? Was it believable that she would say, "Is Anna really just a friend? Because if you've chosen to abandon your ; and then stomp off when Hub said if he does become a priest, it's because he has searched his soul?
35. Did Hub seem dense when he asked Max why people thinks Anna is his girlfriend, and why it matters to people so much? Did you like the talk between Hub and Max, or did it sound hokey?
36. Did you like the new car mechanic? Did he feel out of place? Was he necessary, or was there another way to have Hub make a menorah?
37. Was it believable that Hub had books which were "favourites", about "children who find magic carpets and ride them into strange new worlds"? Was this something that you would imagine Season 1 or 2 Hub reading?
38. Was it good to hear about what Anna went through in Austria? Should we have found out more? Did you feel she was developed enough as a character in terms of her background, personality and emotional state?
39. Was it improper for Hub to show Anna his bedroom? Were you embarrassed for Hub when Honey walked in?
40. Was it funny to use the cute acting antics from Zack at the play? Or was it over-indulgent and too cutsey?
41. Did you like watching Maisey playing piano with Anna accompanying on the cello? Was it believable that Maisey would be won over so quickly?
42. When Anna mentioned missing her family, Toppy said she understood the feeling since her daughter and her were "out of touch". Would you have liked a subplot with Toppy and Doris? Would it have been better if we had instead learned Toppy had already reconciled with Doris, instead of leaving this sad conclusion to their relationship?
43. When Honey asks Fat when he always compared himself to Hub, he says, "Everyone expects me to be like him. I'm ; Is that true? Was it believable that Fat would feel that way? Did this explain his animosity towards Hub?
44. Did you notice how the walls of the Bailey house and the Sutton apartment, were in various shades of red and green? And how a few characters were wearing red or green? Overall, did you like the "look" of the film?
45. When the Inspector came to the Bailey mansion, did you enjoy seeing Toppy defend Anna? Was it believable that Toppy would be completely fine with them hiding Anna? How do you think Grace or May would have reacted if they had been around?
46. Did the writers go too far to have Fat eagerly offering to help the Inspector locate Hub, to show him the "secret hideout" they had when they were kids? Was it sad to see Fat not seeming conflicted at all?
47. Did the writers go too far to have Honey say to Max (when he suggested maybe Hub was in love with Anna), "All the more reason to send her away"? Did she seem heartless to you? When Fat ran out after Hub, she didn't stop him while Max called out for him to stop. Was Honey hoping Fat would find and expose Hub?
48. Did you think it was effective to have the Anna storyline make members of the Sutton family turn on one another, like with Fat following Hub outside at night, and Hub having to hide from him? Did it make a good point of showing how war can tear families apart?
More Questions are continued below all the way to # scroll down!
Re: "A Wind at My Back Christmas" Discussion
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Wed Jul 27, 2011 8:52 pm
Questions
49. Were you surprised that Anna did not catch the train? Was that a smart idea? Did you like the plan that Hub concocted, to hide her in the hotel basement?
50. Did you agree with Anna that Hub "made himself the center", and his name was appropriate?
51. Did it feel natural when Hub and Anna kissed in the basement, or were you disappointed in them? Was it a good drama to have Maisey walking in on them kissing?
52. Was it believable that Anna would know immediately how Maisey felt towards Hub when she said, "Go after her. Make her feel better. Didn't you see how hurt she was? She's in love with ;?
53. When Hub ran after Maisey, he said, "I just wanted to tell you how proud I was of for what you're doing for Anna. You're a good ; Why did he hug her afterwards? Did you think that would give her the wrong idea?
54. Did seeing the kiss make Maisey see the truth, or did it not have that effect, since when she went home, she told Toppy, "Don't talk to me about her", and then said, "Well, he's in love with her. I saw them. They were kissing. He's never going to look at me like ; Was it natural to have Toppy comfort her, even though they didn't have too many scenes during the series itself?
55. Did you find Inspector Wells despicable, or were you fine with him since he was only doing his job? Was he an enjoyable "villain"?
56. The next morning, the Inspector asks Fat if he thinks Hub is lying, and Fat replies, "I don't know. I really don't ; Was Fat lying? Or was he trying to help Hub? The Inspector says most brothers know each other better than that. Was that true in Hub and Fat's case?
57. Why did Fat decide to hide and listen to the Inspector's phone call? When did he start to want to help Hub? Was the turnaround too abrupt? Or was Fat still intending to expose Hub's secret when he crept down the basement stairs?
58. Honey said to Hub, "When I see you losing touch with You are young. So you don't know how easy it is for a stranger to come into your life and put you ; What stranger was Honey referring to here, since she seemed to be speaking from personal experience.
59. When Honey accuses Hub of hiding Anna, and he says, "Please don't tell Wells", Honey says, "Look at yourself! You can't tell me she hasn't changed you!!" Did you agree? Did Anna change Hub?
60. When Max came home, he apologized for being too "hard" on Honey? Were you glad he apologized? Was Max rude when he then accused Honey of wanting Hub to become a priest "to get her foot in Heaven's door"? This was in response to Honey explaining why she wanted Hub to become a priest, "After everything I've been through, finally, the angels are shining on my family ;
61. Did you enjoy the scene with Maisey hitting Fat on the head? Was it too cheap to have the "I've killed him!" before getting to commercials? Should they have shown the repercussions of the head injury instead of having the bandage gone by the next scene?
62. Did you agree with Maisey about tying Fat up? What if Fat really was trying to turn them what should they have done then?
63. Hub accuses Fat, "Why should we believe you, you're working for [Inspector Wells]", and Fat responds, "Why do you always assume the worse of ; Later, when Anna believes his story, Fat says, "Finally, someone hears me. I guess I'm not surprised it's not my ; Was Hub to blame for being skeptical of Fat? Or did you find Fat annoying with his whining about not being trusted?
64. When they bring Anna back to May's house, Anna says worriedly to Toppy, "Everyone in town must ; Do you think they would have known? Toppy says, "Wells is gone, and nobody needs to know what he was doing ; Was it unrealistic to not show anyone in town's reaction to this, and to have Anna out and about after this?
65. Did you find the movie suddenly lost all its dramatic tension when Anna came out of hiding after Wells left? Did you mind it? Did you wonder what else there was left to do?
66. Hub and Fat are still arguing, but forgive each other after a conversation where Fat said he didn't want Hub to get arrested and Hub said he was sorry for being angry and should have trusted Fat. Did they do a good job of resolving the issues between Fat and Hub? Were you satisfied with the resolution of this conflict?
67. In the next scene, Honey approaches Hub and apologized, saying "I think it's hard for me letting you grow up. I still want to protect ; Did they do a good job resolving the issues between Hub and Honey? Were you satisfied with the resolution of this conflict?
68. When Honey said to Hub, "Are you very much in love with her?", Hub seems on the verge of tears and hugs Honey. Was Hub's reaction believable? By this point, was Honey still angry at Anna? Would you have liked Honey to say out loud at this point that it's Hub's choice whether or not to become a priest, and she would support him no matter what?
69. Did you enjoy seeing part of the Christmas pageant? Did you want to see more? Or was it not necessary?
70. After this, there is 10 minutes of opening presents, first with Hub/Fat/Violet/Zack, then with Hub/Anna/Maisey and then with Max/Honey. Did you like this part of the movie? Or did you find it cheesy and a waste of time?
71. Did you like that Hub gave Maisey a figure of St. Christopher, saying she was going to have great adventures? Was this a good way to end the Maisey/Hub crush, or did you feel it was left somewhat open? Would you have liked to see a continuation?
72. Anna gave Hub a book of poetry and marked a poem by William Blake, and when Hub asked how she knew that he "loved Blake", she said it was "obvious"? In what way? Was it believable that Hub was into poetry and Blake in particular?
73. The poem, called "Auguries of Innocence" reads, "To see a world in a grain of sand / And a heaven in a wild flower / Hold infinity in the palm of your hand / And eternity in an ; Why did Anna choose this piece? Was it appropriate for the movie and for the relationship between Hub and Anna? Why do you think the writer chose this particular passage and poem?
74. Did you like how Max's present to Honey was giving her a semester in Toronto and her present was to stop taking courses for a semester so Max could write "The Miner's Son"? Did you find it romantic? Was it a good compromise to have Honey continue to take 1 course while Max lets Jim be principal so he could spend time writing? But what about Honey going to Toronto?
75. Before dinner, Hub announced to everyone that he had decided not to become a priest. Did the movie do a good job of showing how and why Hub decided against this career? Was it true what Hub said, that it was not just because of Anna, except a little at first?
76. Next, Fat made the announcement that he was serious about becoming a Mountie, but after he finished high school. Did you like this announcement? Did it seem premature for Fat to still want to be a Mountie after what happened with Wells?
77. Did you enjoy seeing Anna lighting the menorah, or was it unnecessary to include?
78. Later, in the bedroom upstairs, Anna talks sadly about her parents and Honey says, "If I were your parents, I'd have done just what they did. You try to keep your children ; Did you like this new bond between Honey and Anna, and the similarities of the situation in Season 1 when Honey decided to leave her children in a safe place? Did it redeem Honey?
79. Downstairs, when Max apologizes to Fat for dismissing his Mountie idea, Fat says, "You don't have to say anything. With Hub, you say he's destined for great things, but with I don't care that you think I'm as good as ; Could you see Max treating Fat as if he were less than Hub, and were you sick of Fat saying the same thing over and over again by this point?
80. When Inspector Wells showed up, Hub and Anna ran, but the house seemed deserted and we didn't see what happened with the rest of the family. Would you have liked to see how they answered Wells' doorbell? Why did they take forever to answer?
81. Was Hub right, that Anna should call Professor Coburn? Did you agree with Hub it was an emergency?
82. Would you have preferred the writer to let Hub go into hiding with Anna in the US? Why did they not? Were you disappointed Anna was willing to have Hub leave his life to be with her?
83. Was it a good idea to end the movie in this way, with Inspector Wells showing up out of the blue, and Anna having to be on the run again? Were you disappointed that the movie ended on a sad note with another goodbye?
84. The final scene went from Hub at the pier after leaving Anna to the stock footage of the town singing "Silent Night" at the gazebo from the episode "A Family Again". Did you like this way of ending the movie? What would you have preferred?